View Full Version : The planet that can supposedly support life
albear
Apr 30, 2007, 01:46 PM
Does anybody know if this new planet with rock and water orbiting a 'red giant' I think it is can support life and if so do you think that we (humans) would be able to live on it
shygrneyzs
Apr 30, 2007, 01:47 PM
I think it is too early to even speculate on any possibilities.
Lowtax4eva
Apr 30, 2007, 01:49 PM
Well if you believe the calculations they made about this planet, its about the same distance from the sun as earth and has roughly the same temperatures so in theory it could support life, if there's water on the surface.
JoeCanada76
Apr 30, 2007, 01:50 PM
I think it is possible there is other life forms. Would that planet be able to sustain our life, I highly doubt it.
For the life forms and make up of gases and genetics and gravity would be different, so life forms would be completely different forms than what has developed here on earth.
Joe
RickJ
Apr 30, 2007, 01:52 PM
What "new planet" are you speaking of. Might you be referring to a moon of one of the known planets in our Solar System, Jupiter?
Capuchin
Apr 30, 2007, 01:52 PM
Basically, all we know, is that it's between 0-40 degrees Celsius. So it might have liquid water on the surface. Water is fairly abundant so it wouldn't be surprising. But there might be other reasons life couldn't form there.
It's all been blown out of proportion by the media, as the media likes to do.
Capuchin
Apr 30, 2007, 01:53 PM
Rick, I believe he's talking about Gliese 581 c (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_581_c)
Lowtax4eva
Apr 30, 2007, 01:55 PM
Well all planets are made from the same debris so the gas concentrations should be nearly similar, mostly an oxygen nitrogen atmosphere if the planet has water and presumably plants which would remove carbon dioxide.
albear
Apr 30, 2007, 01:59 PM
Rick, I believe he's talking about Gliese 581 c (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_581_c)
Yes I think this is the one it orbits a red dwarf star and has higher gravity than earth but would anybody agree it is a planet for the future (far far future) for humans to inhabit if it is habbitable.
Nosnosna
Apr 30, 2007, 02:08 PM
There's no valid reason to assume anything about it at this point.
There could be no atmosphere at all, or there could be any mix of gases you could come up with. Even with an Earth-like atmosphere, there would still be other potential reasons that it would be unable to support life as we know it... a couple that come to mind immediately would be a very low rotational speed causing an extremely long day/night cycle which would lead to wide fluctuations in temperature, or an axial tilt that would point one pole almost directly at the star, leading to one extremely hot side and one extremely cold. There are any number of other possibilities.
Of course, it's also important to note that, in the end, we aren't entirely sure that there IS a planet there. The methodology is sound, and the results are reasonable, but we aren't currently able to verify the result.
RickJ
Apr 30, 2007, 02:17 PM
yes i think this is the one it orbits a red dwarf star and has higher gravity than earth but would anybody agree it is a planet for the future (far far future) for humans to inhabit if it is habbitable.
This being the case, I would have to agree with the three who are basically saying that we just do not know enough about the new planet yet.
Yes, it is exciting to learn things such as this but we cannot yet be too excited.